arXiv subjects

Adrian del Rio

Publications and source records attributed to Adrian del Rio.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Gravity and handedness of photons

Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a non-trivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum electromagnetic radiation, in such a way that the state of polarization of radiation changes in time, even in the absence of electromagnetic sources. This is a quantum effect, and is a consequence of an anomaly related to the classical invariance under electric-magnetic duality rotations in Maxwell theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Equivalence of Adiabatic and DeWitt-Schwinger renormalization schemes

We prove that adiabatic regularization and DeWitt-Schwinger point-splitting provide the same result for the renormalized expectation values of the stress-energy tensor for spin-$1/2$ fields. This generalizes the equivalence found for scalar fields, which is here recovered in a different way. We also argue that the coincidence limit of the DeWitt-Schwinger proper time expansion of the two-point function exactly agrees with the analogous expansion defined by the adiabatic regularization method at any order (for both scalar and spin-$1/2$ fields). We also illustrate the power of the adiabatic method to compute higher order DeWitt coefficients in FLRW universes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Renormalized stress-energy tensor for spin-1/2 fields in expanding universes

We provide an explicit expression for the renormalized expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of a spin-$1/2$ field in a spatially flat FLRW universe. Its computation is based on the extension of the adiabatic regularization method to fermion fields introduced recently in the literature. The tensor is given in terms of UV-finite integrals in momentum space, which involve the mode functions that define the quantum state. As illustrative examples of the method efficiency, we see how to compute the renormalized energy density and pressure in two interesting cosmological scenarios: a de Sitter spacetime and a radiation-dominated universe. In the second case, we explicitly show that the late-time renormalized stress-energy tensor behaves as that of classical cold matter. We also check that, if we obtain the adiabatic expansion of the scalar field mode functions with a similar procedure to the one used for fermions, we recover the well-known WKB-type expansion.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Spacetime correlators of perturbations in slow-roll de Sitter inflation

Two-point correlators and self-correlators of primordial perturbations in quasi-de Sitter spacetime backgrounds are considered. For large separations two-point correlators exhibit nearly scale invariance, while for short distances self-correlators need standard renormalization. We study the deformation of two-point correlators to smoothly match the self-correlators at coincidence. The corresponding angular power spectrum is evaluated in the Sachs-Wolfe regime of low multipoles. Scale invariance is maintained, but the amplitude of $C_{\ell}$ could change in a non-trivial way.

gr-qc↗